Russia-NATO Tactical Warplanes In Rapid Stand-off; Putin Orders Snap Military Drills

   (IBT) --- Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO are displaying rapid provocation aimed at each other, as Russian military officials accused NATO of heightened spy and tactical warplanes deployment over the Baltic border in 2014. NATO doubled its reconnaissance flights over Baltic border in an alarming rate -- 3,000 in total -- according to head of the Russian Defence Ministry's joint military command centre General Mikhail Mizintsev alleged.

   The alarming rate through which NATO is flying its warplanes is being conducted without two-way communication from concerned parties, Mizintsev said. With this, all efforts made to establish the field of trust-building and voluntary transparency between NATO and Russia had officially diminished, Mizintsev said as cited by Bloomberg.  Russia does not welcome NATO's intensified presence over Baltic border, hence it is closely monitoring every move and activities the NATO warplanes are undertaking, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei concurred.

   NATO is specifically flying its reconnaissance aircraft identified by Russia as RC-135 of the U.S. Air Force, commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force Colonel General Viktor Bondarev noted. He said this type of spy plane had been spotted over the border practically every day - that made it to 140 flights of this type of plane in 2014 as compared to 22 flights in 2013. Additionally, NATO had also been using a massive airborne warning and control system aircraft or AWACS, surveying the airspace of the Black Sea, Ukraine and western Russia. Similar warplanes from the British and French air forces had also been spotted surveying the airspace.

   NATO on the other hand had previously claimed that they had intercepted a total of Russian warplanes 400 times in 2014 -- 50 percent more as compared in 2013. The alliance had also claimed that it has escorted Russian planes 140 times in 2014 -- a 70 percent increase from 2013. Mizintsev however slammed NATO's claim that its flying missions were in accordance to international rules.

   Besides NATO's spy planes, there is also an increased presence of similar aircrafts from different countries. As per Russia's count, there are 55 incidents where foreign jets were spotted flying in what it described as "dangerous proximity" to its long-range military aircrafts. The said foreign jets were flying at a dangerous distance of less than 100 metres.

   The Swedish Gulfstream spy plane, the German Orion P-35 aircraft, the Danish Challenger aircraft and Portuguese Orion planes are manoeuvred to survey the supposedly classified military activities of the Russian armed forces, Bondarev outlined. These planes are specifically deployed over the Kaliningrad region and above the Baltic waters, Bondarev noted as reported by ITAR TASS.

   Oddly, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered for a snap military drills involving 9,000 sevicemen, 642 military vehicles, including 250 tanks and APCs, 100 artillery units, 55 warships and Iskander ballistic missile system, Newsweek reported. Putin had reportedly called for the rapid military drill to test the "battle-readiness" of the Russian armed forces.

   The military drill was conducted between Dec 5-10, participated by Russia's navy's Baltic fleet, troops from western military district and Russia's air force personnel. Troops who participated were not aware that they were called as part of the drill, yet they displayed extraordinary qualities and showcase their battle-operational capability, ministry of Defence spokesperson Andrey Kartapolov said.  "A self-sufficient, multi-purpose army of air, sea and land units was assembled in the period of less than a day in the Kaliningrad area," Kartapolov highlighted.